NIT students demand action against cops, J-K deputy CM assures safety

Clashes erupted between the two groups after West Indies defeated India in World T20 match and police fired tear gas shells and used baton charge to disperse the mobs. The campus has remained heated since then.

Students argue with a policeman during a protest against police action on students of National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar on Thursday.(AP)

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar campus remained tensed on Saturday as the non-Kashmiri students were denied permission to conduct a march demanding action against the policemen who assaulted them on April 4.

During the World T20 that ended last week, some Kashmiri students in the campus chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after West Indies defeated India on March 31, irking non-Kashmiri students. Clashes erupted between the two groups and police fired tear gas shells and used baton charge to disperse the mobs. The campus has remained heated since then.

On Friday, a senior police officer told IANS in Srinagar, “Some non-local students of NIT tried to take out a protest march today, which was disallowed by the police without using any force.”

“The protesting students were told they could not be allowed to take their protest to the road outside the college,” he added.

After speaking to the police officials deployed there, the students went back to the campus, the police officer said.

Meanwhile, the new deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and BJP leader Nirmal Singh on Friday assured that the students at the varsity are safe and will be unharmed, while asserting that those responsible for attacking the students will not be spared.

“NIT is an institution and the BJP believes that there should not be any political interference there, that’s why the HRD is dealing with their academic and other issues, including their safety. A magisterial enquiry is underway into the lathicharge on students and report will come in 15 days, following which all those police officials responsible will be punished,” Singh said.

Police and CRPF deployed at National Institute of Technology (NIT).
(PTI)

The state government has ordered a magisterial probe into the student unrest and the incidents that occurred at the campus on March 31 and April 4.

Assuring complete security, he added that troops of CRPF and senior officers from the Jammu and Kashmir Police were deployed inside the campus and were constantly monitoring the situation.

“As a Deputy Chief Minister, I assure the complete safety of the students and I am taking a personal interest in the matter. I had gone to Srinagar yesterday (on Thursday) and I will be going there today (on Friday) as well to take stick of the situation,” he added.

The BJP leader also said that the students must not be worried as the institution belongs to them and also appealed to other parties to not politicize the issue as the state was a sensitive area and that the issue must be contained solely to that of national interest.

A fact-finding team of the HRD Ministry arrived at the institute’s campus on Wednesday for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.